Talented author Laurie R. King has picked up the mantle of Arthur Conan Doyle, and is very deftly continuing the Sherlock Holmes saga, with the addition of the young Jewish-American girl Mary Russell.  The time is the first World War, and Holmes is in retirement in Sussex, performing experiments, doing research, taking on the occasional case that interests him, playing chess (when credible opponents present themselves!) and beekeeping.  Just how we imagine a mind like Holmes' would behave.  Then he meets Mary Russell. . .

"I was fifteen when I first met Sherlock Holmes, fifteen years old with my nose in a book as I walked the Sussex Downs, and nearly stepped on him.  In my defence I must say it was an engrossing book, and it was very rare to come across another person in that particular part of the world in that war year of 1915.  In my seven weeks of peripatetic reading amongst the sheep (which tended to move out of my way) and the gorse bushes (to which I had painfully developed an instinctive awareness) I had never before stepped on a person."

This first book in the series tells how Holmes teaches and mentors Russell (whose brain is certainly equal to Holmes',) shows her the arts of disguise, takes her on cases to hone her skills, and how the apprentice grows and develops until she becomes his partner.  On the grander scale, the story shows how the male-dominated nineteenth century is turned on its head by the ordeal of World War I, and the world that emerges is so much more feminist.  A strong female detective considered an equal by Sherlock Holmes?  What a concept!  

Characters from the original books such as Dr. Watson, housekeeper Mrs. Hudson and brother Mycroft Holmes all play a part in this story.  But it is Laurie King's narrative and characterization that will bring me back to this book again in the future to see what I missed the first time around.  Her creation of atmosphere is on a par with Conan Doyle's.

Laurie R. King has a most entertaining and informative website, and including the latest 2010 book published, "The God of the Hive," there are ten books in the Sherlock Holmes - Mary Russell series.  I plan to read them all.